1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable electronic apparatus having a biometric recognition function, and a recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been proposed a portable electronic apparatus, which authenticates a user based on the fingerprint pattern of the user and permits or prohibits the use of a function managed under security protection based on whether the authentication is successful or not.
Unexamined Japanese Patent Application KOKAI Publication No. 2005-323083 discloses a portable terminal apparatus which allows a user to pre-register fingerprint information of the user in association with information specifying a function, so that the use of the function associated with the registered fingerprint information may be permitted or prohibited in a case where user authentication based on fingerprint information detected by detection means and the registered fingerprint information is successful.
This portable terminal apparatus allows the user to switch between permitting and prohibiting the use of a function that requires privacy protection based on fingerprint information, by associating the fingerprint information with information specifying the function that requires privacy protection.
However, with this portable terminal apparatus, when the user sets whether to permit or prohibit the use of a function, he/she needs to bring up a menu for changing a control parameter for controlling the security of the function on the display while the function is activated to select whether to set the security setting effective or ineffective, and thereafter needs to input his/her fingerprint for the fingerprint authentication purpose.
These plurality of predetermined operations are bothersome and not user-friendly in terms of operation easiness.
Further, this portable terminal apparatus can permit or prohibit the use of a file based on fingerprint information. In a case where there is a file which cannot set under security protection, the portable terminal apparatus can switch between permitting and prohibiting the use of this file by storing the file in a folder which is set under security protection.
However, in order to switch between permitting and prohibiting the use of data which cannot be set under security protection, the user has to set the folder in which the data is to be stored under security protection together with relocating the data to this folder set under security protection, going through bothersome operations to switch between permitting and prohibiting the use.